And directing The Hobbit...perhaps!?

[Sauron the White]

Variety is reporting that Universal Pictures is making a pitch to tie up Del Toro on their own projects.

U also was caught off-guard after they aggressively courted Guillermo Del Toro, the filmmaker behind "Pan's Labyrinth" and "Hellboy." The studio gave him a first-look deal, picked up a sequel to "Hellboy" with a budget of more than $80 million, and even bought the rights to his dream project, the H.P. Lovecraft epic, "At the Mountains of Madness."

But U brass was stunned to suddenly see Del Toro emerge as the likely director of the next two "Hobbit" movies for New Line and MGM. That would lock him down for four straight years in New Zealand.

Langley acknowledges, "We're in discussions with how to rectify that with Guillermo."

The looming legal battle on the shadow of uncertainty of a start date may cost the project the services of Del Toro.